418 Dive Log Australasia JUNE 2026.pdf

government announced that whaling would be canceled for the summer. It was resumed in mid-September for two weeks, when they were able to kill 24 whales. We were unable to return to Iceland due to our flag being stricken by Jamaica because of our interventions against the killing of pilot whales in the Danish Faroe Islands in August 2023. We were reflagged and ready to return in 2024 when we left from Ireland to once again intervene against Icelandic whaling. Once again, Icelandic whaling was canceled. We then carried on toward the Northwest Passage, with the intention of transiting to the Pacific to oppose illegal Japanese whaling. That was when I was arrested in Greenland under a Japanese Interpol Red Notice extradition request and had to spend five months in a Greenlandic prison, successfully fighting the extradition and using my situation to focus international attention on illegal whaling by Japan and Denmark. I was able to return to Europe, where Interpol dismissed the Red Notice as politically motivated. In 2025, we were once again ready to depart from Dublin, Ireland, to return to Iceland, when once again Iceland canceled whaling for the summer. It appeared that all we had to do was announce our intention to intervene to force a cancellation. For three years now, we have been able to shut down whaling in Iceland every summer since 2023 with just 24 whales killed during that time. I say “just’ but 24 whales killed was 24 whales too many. Once again, Loftsson has announced his intention to resume whaling for the summer of 2026, and this time he appears to finally have the political support in Iceland to do so. He has invested a lot of money upgrading his two ships and has contracted crews. The government has issued him a permit, and all signs point to his intent to return to sea to murder 116 endangered fin whales. We are ready. Our ship is undergoing final preparations for departure for what we are calling Operation 86, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of our sinking of half the

Icelandic whaling fleet in November 1986. And Iceland has another old man problem: namely, me. I’m not as old as Loftsson, but I’ve been saving whales for as long as Loftsson has been killing them. As relentless as he is in killing, I am just as passionately relentless in protecting whales. I stand for life and Loftsson stands for death. I am determined that this summer that life defeats death in the Denmark Strait or the Greenland Sea. Loftsson, the sadistic serial whale killing criminal needs to be stopped. We’ve stopped him before and we intend to stop him once again this summer. Icelandic whaling must be 86’ed for good. To learn more about Captain Paul Watson or to follow Operation 86, visit paulwatsonfoundation.org or scan this QR code

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DIVE LOG Australasia #418 - June’ 26

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